Superstorm Sandy still has many families reeling in the Northeast, leaving them displaced or without power and heat in their homes. Nor’easter hit the tri-state area not long after the disaster and added fuel to the fire. CNN’s Susan Candiotti has been following the story and reporting the aftermath of both in coastal New Jersey. She speaks with one couple returning home after Nor’easter and Sandy.

Bill and Sue Kosakowski’s Pelican Island home took a fierce beating during the storm. Sue had decided to evacuate while Bill remained to ride out the storm alone until it was too much for him to bear. “I rode out the storm Friday morning. I said I couldn't take anymore because they turned the gas off,” Bill says. “That was enough for me and I told my wife I would walk across the bridge if I had to and I was getting off."

Candiotti accompanies the couple as they make their emotional return together for the first time after the ordeal. The sight stuns them, but Sue is grateful. "The house is stones and bricks and windows and glass. I thought I lost him and losing him would have just devastated me,” she says. “I don't know how long I could have gone on.”

Bill takes stock of their dream retirement home. “You expect to spend the rest of your life in calm and peace,” he says. “And in one felt swoop, everything washed away."

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